Trillanes bares list of Duterte properties

MANILA, Philippines – Unfazed by threats of possible jail time, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV released yesterday a list of properties of presidential candidate Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte.

The three-page list provided to members of the Senate and media showed that a majority of the real estate properties were in the names of Duterte’s children Sara, Sebastian and Paolo.

A property in Davao City was put in trust for Veronica Avancena Duterte under the name of Cielito Avancena, Duterte’s current partner. Veronica is their 11-year-old daughter.

Two properties in Dipolog City were under the names of spouses Sebastian Descallar and Jesusima Duterte, while a property in Davao City is under the name of Veronica Avancena Duterte.

Trillanes said 40 properties were covered by Transfer Certificates of Title (TCTs) and located in Davao City (34), Davao del Norte (one) and Dipolog (two), all in Mindanao; and in San Juan, Parañaque and Quezon City (one in each city) in Metro Manila.

The list showed Duterte has a property in San Juan under the name of his son Sebastian Zimmerman Duterte, while three properties (one in Parañaque City and two in Davao) were under the name of Manases Carpio, husband of Duterte’s daughter Sara. 

There is another property in Quezon City under Sara’s name.

Trillanes also provided Duterte’s nine other known addresses. These are 386 P. Guevarra St., San Juan City; 93 Sapphire St., Dona Luisa, Matina, Davao; 115 Camagong St., Monte Maria, Davao City; 267 Makiling Central Parkbangkal, Bangkal, Davao City; 458 Taal Road Central Park Subdivision, Bangkal, Davao City; 2 Atlantic Avenue, Ecoland, Davao City; 10 Atlantic Avenue, Ecoland Phase 3, Davao City; 9 Atlantic Ave., Ecoland Subdivision Phase 3, Davao City Del Sur; and, 105 SM Village, Bangkal, Davao City.

As this developed, Trillanes said he will go to the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Julia Vargas branch in Ortigas Center, Pasig City at 11 a.m. today to wait for Duterte or his representative to fulfill his challenge for the mayor to open his bank accounts for public scrutiny.

Trillanes had earlier exposed Duterte as a “fraud” for making it appear that he is pro-poor and pro-masa when in fact he maintains billions of pesos in his bank accounts, which he did not declare in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN). 

According to Trillanes, aside from bank accounts and transactions totalling up to P2.4 billion, Duterte allegedly has 41 properties across the country.

Trillanes claimed that Duterte has accounts in three banks that had accumulated transactions amounting to P2.4 billion.

In a statement, Duterte’s party PDP-Laban cried foul over the allegations of Trillanes, saying existence of properties does not necessarily mean that these were ill-gotten.

Trillanes earlier claimed Duterte did not declare in his 2014 SALN the P211 million supposedly deposited in a joint account with his daughter Sara in the BPI.

The camp of Duterte initially denied the existence of the BPI account, but later backtracked after proof of its existence was uploaded online.

Duterte later said the bank account only contains a few thousand pesos, although reports yesterday quoted him as saying that it contains “a little less than P211 million.”

Trillanes, who is running for vice president as an independent, earlier said the BPI account is just the tip of the iceberg and that they are still validating other information about the mayor’s real wealth.

Open accounts

Presidential contenders, including Sen. Grace Poe, urged Duterte to open up his bank accounts if he has nothing to hide.

Liberal Party bet Mar Roxas wondered where the money in Duterte’s account came from, and hinted that the mayor may have violated the law by receiving millions in cash gifts.

Duterte was quoted as saying that “rich friends” gave him the money.

“According to the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, you are not supposed to receive such huge amounts of money. If it’s your birthday and you are given a cake, that’s allowed. But if you are given P1 million, that’s already a bribe,” Roxas said.

As this developed, senatorial bet Valenzuela Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian is calling for greater transparency in the finances of incumbent and prospective elective officials amid the growing controversy concerning allegations of hidden wealth in supposed secret bank accounts of Duterte.

Should he win a seat in the Senate, Gatchalian said he would push the passage of a law that would require all candidates to execute bank secrecy waivers upon filing their certificates of candidacy. – With Alexis Romero